Forget NYE, I'm Celebrating My 2-Year Dating Anniversary!

Now that Christmas is over, J and I have a whole other event to plan. No, not a New Year’s Eve party (well, yes, that too ), I’m talking about our two-year anniversary! Yeap, right in between Christmas and New Year’s, we celebrate the anniversary of our very first date (our 2nd date was actually on NYE, super cute!). Laugh if you will, but it means a lot to us. We always take the time to appreciate each other and how much has changed in our relationship. And, hey, who needs another excuse to celebrate your love for someone?

I know most people leave the anniversary thing for after you’re married, but I’m all for celebrating your first date. These are milestones too, right? Actually, during our first year together, J and I would celebrate each month with a little dinner or funny card or sweet email. Nothing fancy, but sometimes saying an extra “I love you” just lets the other person know you’re happy with how things are going. It’s super cheesy, but I wake up every day feeling so lucky to have found J, so doing something a little extra once a month or once a year to let him know that seems pretty light to me.

Sure, it’s only been two years for J and I, but a lot has changed in our toddler-of-a-relationship. We said “I love you” after a couple months, we exchanged keys shortly after that, there were vacations, J taking care of me after I passed out in the shower, spending holidays with each other’s family and now we’re even sharing a home and starting to plan a future together. So, although it’s only been two years, it sure feels like this anniversary we’ll be toasting to this future we’re building rather than the past.

We are really excited about our anniversary plans, though. We’re going to a super swanky restaurant (the chef/owner is on Food Network... we're pumped!) that my sister got us a gift card to for Christmas so we’ll actually get to, you know, eat and enjoy a nice bottle of wine! It’ll be nice to do something different and go out somewhere fancy and just have a change of pace and dress up a bit for each other (Okay, okay, I just want to wear a sexy dress for him!). We’re not exchanging gifts or anything since it was just Christmas. It’s really just about taking the time to be together, look back at what we’ve done so far and look forward to all that’s coming our way.

Cheers to J, my guy, my love and to 2012 bringing nothing but the best for my Smitten Kittens. XO

What do you guys think—do you celebrate dating anniversaries? Do you exchange gifts or do you think it’s more about having a nice time together? OH—what is everyone doing for NYE??